07 February 2025
“I find it hard to put into words how much of a difference the contribution of St Peter’s College students makes.”
So said Ms Jill Rivers, the Coordinator of Emergency Assistance at AnglicareSA, one of the Anglican not-for-profit organisations with which St Peter’s College collaborates with through its Service Learning Program.
For Christmas 2024, AnglicareSA prepared, packed and distributed over 1,000 family food hampers and more than 2,000 children’s toys and gifts for families in need across South Australia.
The work to plan and prepare for this huge effort goes on throughout the preceding year, as Ms Rivers explained: “Throughout 2024, students volunteered during their school holidays at AnglicareSA’s Gilbert Street complex. They were reliable, hardworking and prepared to do whatever was asked of them, including receiving and sorting food items and toys, and organising storage areas. Their contribution transformed the basement where emergency assistance materials are stored, and they also put in place organisational systems that staff and volunteers continued to use throughout 2024. They had so much energy and willingness to do what was needed, even the ‘not so glamourous’ jobs.
“During the last week leading up to Christmas, in the past, we have not had sufficient volunteers to get through the volume of work that remains despite the hampers and gift bags mostly being completed by mid-December. This is because we keep receiving donations from the public and need to respond to last minute requests for food hampers and toys,” she said.
The Coordinator of Service Learning, Ms Ashleigh Day, said that in total 29 SPSC students carried out 243 hours of volunteer work during this time.
“We are so very grateful for the students’ valuable contribution and the on-going relationship we have with St Peter’s College, and we look forward to building on this in 2025,” Ms Rivers concluded.
Julia Denny-Dimitriou
Associate Chaplain
Student reflections:
“I would just like to say thank you for giving me a good opportunity to volunteer for the Anglicare service. It was quite insightful and heartwarming to help people in need and it was an enjoyable activity.” – Charlie Baker, Year 9
“I would like to thank you for organising this opportunity for us, as I think the cause behind the Christmas Hamper Drive is very worthwhile, and I enjoyed working with the staff at Anglicare very much. I am really grateful that we have the opportunity to assist those that may be less fortunate than ourselves. In the end, I found the experience to be really fulfilling, and I am very pleased that I was able to take part in it.”
– David Penkoff, Year 11
“I had a great time at Anglicare thank you and I will definitely do it again next year.” – George Eastaugh, Year 8
“During my time with Anglicare, we were asked to sort donations into boxes to help volunteers keep track of the never-ending flood of food and clothes. This has highlighted to me the lack of workers who tirelessly try and give back to society, and the importance our volunteering in their lives. Thus, we were required to think about the best way to organise donations in order to make life easier for the full-time volunteers. In the end, it was decided that we would organise food by type (ie. canned vegetables, pasta, etc), toys by age, and stationary by use (ie. arts & crafts, coloured pencils, activity packs, etc). Overall, our planning was key to the extent of the help we were able to provide Anglicare volunteers with. Finally, collaboration was as prevalent, if not more, than planning and initiative.” – Cruz Leon, Year 10
